Location : Dusun Medeng, Desa Sungkung II, Kecamatan Siding, Kabupaten Bengkayang, Kalimantan Barat, Indonesia.
This will be our final album for this long and hard journey in trying to cover as many villages celebrating the Nyobeng event as part of the ancient religion of the Bidayuhs of Borneo. Our interview with an expert like Pak Paeng at Kambih village had left us more intrigued than ever. We learned more as we went along picking up bits and pieces of info and as we put them together, the jigsaw of Nyobeng is getting clearer now.
It is much more spiritual than just tuak drinking, animal sacrifices and dancing to the rhythm of the gong. Every strata level of the spirit world are being respected and honoured through offerings and mantras. They believe these are the keys to reset the equilibrium every year in order to live in peace with nature and the Almighty.
Coming back to the final day at Sungkung Medeng / Anep, sending off the Gumbang guests was as grand as the welcoming. As they bade their final farewell, ojeks stood by to ferry them off to Siding so they could hike back to Gumbang.
The pack of motorbikers from Bengkayang left using the same route but at some point they would have to divert into the Dwikora road.
As for us, we had a hard time looking for ojeks to drive us to Entuai where our car was parked. All the ojeks in Anep had been employed for Gumbang guests. We had no choice but to send a messenger to ‘import‘ neaby Sungkung Akit ojeks for the job. Luckily, we had a new friend in Hendi Lim from Pontianak married to an Akit lady to help us organise that. As we headed back to Entuai we stopped by Sungkung Akit using a different route bypassing Senoleng and Batu Ampar.
Bits & Pieces of Sungkung Medeng
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